Why did Descartes not publish his chief physiology work during his lifetime? Descartes considered that the physiological and medical conclusions that could be drawn from his philosophy were fundamental to his intellectual project, and an apparently complete work was circulating among friends in 1641 but was only published more than a decade after his death, as De Homine (1662) and Traité de l’Homme (1664). This paper argues that Princess Elisabeth’s careful consideration of his physiology raised questions about whether the common interpretation of his philosophy as dualistic was correct, implicating it in some of the most dangerous arguments of his generation. Her questions served as a warning, in a moment when the personal papers and even the liberty of the Frenchman were threatened. Descartes had no interest in becoming a medical Galileo, and listened to the princess, leaving the work unpublished.

为什么笛卡尔生前没有发表他的主要生理学著作？笛卡尔认为可以从他的哲学中得出的生理学和医学结论是他的智力计划的基础，1641 年，一部表面上完整的著作在朋友中流传，但在他死后十多年才出版，如De Homine (1662 ) 和Traité de l'Homme(1664)。这篇论文认为，伊丽莎白公主对他的生理机能的仔细考虑引发了关于他的哲学二元论的普遍解释是否正确的问题，这涉及到他那一代最危险的一些论点。在个人文件甚至法国人的自由受到威胁的时刻，她的问题起到了警告作用。笛卡尔对成为医学伽利略没有兴趣，只听公主的话，未发表作品。